This is not the first time that we have seen Mercedes be the great Friday champion. Unfortunately for the star, she can tend to fall into line on Saturday, when the competition has established itself and the track has cleared up. Free practice 3, scheduled for next night at 3:30 a.m., should indeed teach us a little more about the true strength of the Mercedes this weekend.
However, if we stick to the facts and the performance displayed this Friday, there are a thousand reasons to be optimistic for Toto Wolff's troops. After sticking a second to everyone in EL1, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes once again dominated the second session of the weekend, this time by a fraction ahead of Lando Norris (+0 »011). George Russell is also in the mix with a 3rd time in the match, less than 2/10th. Even if for now, his seven-time world champion teammate seems to have started his weekend better.
Expected to be competitive here in Las Vegas, Scuderia Ferrari is slightly behind. Not sure that we should be overly worried, however, for the Maranello team, which dominated with Charles Leclerc the first half hour on the medium tires. The race pace was also rather encouraging compared to the competition and Sainz's best time was only 2/10th of Hamilton's reference time.
Already present in the top 10 during EL1, Pierre Gasly set the 6th fastest time of the session. Will Alpine, who finished 4th last year with Esteban Ocon on this route, be able to score big points again? The lights are currently green. Esteban Ocon is 12th. Also note the solid performance of the Haas, with Kevin Magnussen (7th) and Nico Hülkenberg (9th). The two men are separated by Oscar Piastri, disappointing in 9th position and who is still slow to get into the rhythm of his teammate.
At Williams, Alex Albon was first detained in his garage for a fuel supply problem. Since when he finally took to the track, the Thai was forced to stop his car on the track, causing a short red flag sending everyone back to the pit lane.
As for the leader of the world championship, it is difficult to see very clearly. The Red Bulls did not set any fast laps on soft tires, which explains the 17th and 19th positions of the duo from Milton Keynes. Max Verstappen has nevertheless railed on several occasions against the lack of grip on the track. The Dutchman has not yet fully found his bearings.
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